Historic Preservation: What is it?
Aiken-Rhett House in Charleston, SC
One question I get a lot when I tell people I went to graduate school to get a certificate in historic preservation is “what is that?”. Often, I’ll simply tell them that I’m interested in old buildings in an effort to save time, but its a little more complex than that. Preservation as a field describes the various options one might be faced with when trying to save an older structure. You might have heard the terms conservation, restoration, & rehabilitation and thought some of these are interchangeable, but that could not be further from the truth! However, all are important and needed depending on the project.
Conservation:
This method of preservation leaves a structure as it is found. Unlike restoration, where a property is restored to specific time period, conservation leaves the space virtually untouched. The philosophy behind this is that the structures current state shows its full history from the time of construction to the last inhabitants. Often, this means they’ll leave peeling wallpaper and exposed ceiling joists in order to paint a picture of the past. One of my favorite examples of this is the Aiken-Rhett House in Charleston, SC, which I was able to visit on my last trip there. This property was initially constructed in 1820 and acquired by the Historic Charleston Foundation in the late 20th century. [1] That is a lot of history to take in, so rather than reverting to a specific time period (ie. to the first family who built it), they chose to honor the property in its current state, cracks and all. Don’t take this to mean they’re letting it fall to ruin, but rather they are taking great pains to prevent anything else from deteriorating.
Side note: Can we talk about that chandelier?! I’m swooning!
Restoration:
As I had mentioned above, some people choose to revert a property back to specific period of time. This would be the restoration approach. The best example of this would be any house museum you might visit (if you haven't been to one, I highly recommend it). Often, this will be done to highlight one important part of history that makes the site significant. This could be anything from a battle that took place on the property or a family member who was notable in history. I attended one house museum in Savannah, GA that inspired the book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”. Its the Mercer Williams House if you were curious, and its gorgeous! With this type of preservation technique though, there is a lot of time and effort and care taken to understand the decor that would have been used to both furnish and finish out the space. With technology being what it is, specialists are able to actually take wallpaper and paint samples from on site and determine their chemical makeup to re-create what would have been used way back when. Through this technique, researchers have been able to determine popular colors and materials that have been used throughout history.
Rehabilitation:
Last, but certainly not least, is rehabilitation. Just as the name states, this technique rehabilitates a structure to bring it into the present. Sometimes, this is as simple as adding central heating and air and modern plumbing to make an older structure inhabitable (yes, there are some properties out there that have been purposely left without modern amenities). Other times, it can be as extreme as adding a whole new structure and attaching it to the original building. In both instances, the properties are modified to to allow for a new owner to make their own stamp on the place. This tends to be one of my favorite methods because its cool to see how others choose to honor the original structure when bringing it into modern times.
The other question I get quite a bit when I tell someone I received a certificate in historic preservation is “how does that relate to interior design?”. This is a valid question … and also one of my favorites! If you know me, you know I could spend hours talking about my job (and my dog, but that’s beside the point) and this is one aspect of it that I think many don’t fully understand. In a world where many are quick to discard old things for the next shiny new thing, there are so many important and beautiful structures begging for some TLC. Some have fallen into disrepair because the cost of upkeep has become too high or it was a home passed down and the newest generation doesn’t see the appeal. However, these structures are some of the most important because they are a piece of history that we are constantly at risk for losing. Further, older homes are some of the most sustainable. Some of these structures have been around for 100+ years and the fact that they are still standing is amazing!
Okay…getting off my soap box now. If you’ve made it this far, thanks so much for reading and hope you learned something! If I have completely won you over and you’re now wondering how you can get more preservation in your life, head over to the instagram for some suggestions of some of my favorites.
If these walls could talk. Aiken-Rhett House Museum Tours, Hours & Tickets | Charleston, SC. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.historiccharleston.org/house-museums/aiken-rhett-house/.